Deerhound lurchers not slow to mature.

[Guest bezza]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

Edited September 26, 2012 by bezza

[Simoman 110]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

 

Perhaps some manners are needed then?

[Guest bezza]

Check out the dictionary definition of the verb 'restrain'.You will find your comment to be both irrelevant and superfluous.

Edited September 26, 2012 by bezza

[morton 5,367]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

This is where people make the biggest mistakes with a pup,especially Deerhound types,it kills a couple of easy rabbits and so it will soon be ready to test more fully,then reality kicks in and a pup that would have been better left until it was both physically and mentally prepared,as been overfaced,overmatched and if not ruined will take longer to reach its potential.

[Guest bezza]

I don't buy that argument, common as it is. Neither does Bill Doherty, an acknowledged authority on the type. Each dog is different, and this dog is mature enough both physically and psychologically to be entered.

As I was present at the courses I am able to tell you they were not easy courses. He's had easy courses on the lamp.

How will it be ruined?

[DeerhoundLurcherMan 997]

Each to their own, but my boy didn't stop growing till at least 18 months old. So at 8 months id say take it easy.........

[Bootsha 1,306]

you harvest too early, you end up with a poor crop. Let the dog mature, let his bones set, there will be plenty of time for him.

[Guest bezza]

Thanks for the advice lads, I'll pass it on. Rest assured he isn't working long shifts, but when the opportunity has presented itself , he's been slipped.

[morton 5,367]

I don't buy that argument, common as it is. Neither does Bill Doherty, an acknowledged authority on the type. Each dog is different, and this dog is mature enough both physically and psychologically to be entered.

As I was present at the courses I am able to tell you they were not easy courses. He's had easy courses on the lamp.

How will it be ruined?

All dogs are different,in general ones that grow the biggest i.e. Deerhound types,take much longer to mature,in mind and body,than smaller type breedings.Entering a dog to young,overfacing it in anyway will have the potential to hinder the dogs future development more than anything else,within reason,more dogs have been ruined by entering early than entering later,when more ready.Rabbits don,t take a lot of catching,obstacles,cover and the type of land will usually dictate the catch rate more,stubble puts the dog at an advantage.Early success at bunny,s makes certain owners over confident in a dogs true ability,this is were a good dog can be ruined by an over eager or careless owner.There will always be exceptions to the rule,some ride their luck and the dog progresses well,in general enter early and pay the price for the rest of the dogs hunting life.

[birddog 1,354]

mines was catching the odd bunny out mooching at an early age but for me it was more about her learning about her environment (ditches, prey, scents, fences, hedges, cover etc) and her own limitations both physical and mental, doing this almost daily allowed me to gauge when she was ready to be deliberately slipped at quarry, she has come on well and at times seems the real deal but at others she plays like a pup and tests her boundaries both with us and other dogs, she's nearly 2 and still not mature although she has a decent wee tally building, my advice take it easy, be cool and let it be a pup but hey each to their own atb

[buster gonads 862]

I,d say the owner, presuming he is experianced enough would be the best judge, after all he knows the dog better than anyone, or should. What i would advise is getting the basic training like recall, retreveing even jumping all sorted before entering to anything.

[baldockbanks courser 598]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

This is where people make the biggest mistakes with a pup,especially Deerhound types,it kills a couple of easy rabbits and so it will soon be ready to test more fully,then reality kicks in and a pup that would have been better left until it was both physically and mentally prepared,as been overfaced,overmatched and if not ruined will take longer to reach its potential.

At what age do you say I don't think this dog is what I want or up to its job 2, 3,4 year old?

 

Lets be honest there's better dogs on rabbits and hares even though deerhound lurchers aren't the worse at hare coursing.

Iv seen a big strong 28 inch 3 year old bitchs course and course fox when the course could have been long ended for fear of being bit, yes they ship punishment that way but they miss a lot of game over a season running in such a carefull manor.

There's some well meaning genuine people trying to keep this cross going but I wonder how many are tested in the field fully compared to other crosses and are a lot kept more as pets shower and races rather than earning there place as workers.

If a car sales men said you have to run this car in at 30 mph for the first ,000 miles it's life expectancy is 110,000 and I can't guarantee the engine will be any good when you finally open it up once it's a middle age vehicle!

 

I think you'd look at another brand of car?

I have a limited experience of the x having owned 2 myself I like them as a dog there gentle and no bother to kennel at all but I invested a lot of time (2 years) money effort and food only to find they couldn't step up from rabbits, I even had a 3 year old Platts bitch up and going on more testing quarrie throw the towel in on her second run still as fresh as a daisy.

 

I'm afraid the excuses have to run out at some time, but dogs aren't science experiments and there are a lot of variables so I'm sure some are fair dogs in a field.

In no way do I want to put any one off buying a deerhound cross but these are questions and observations from my own experience with the x. A.t.b with your choice of dogs.

Edited September 27, 2012 by baldockbanks courser

[lapin2008 1,587]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

This is where people make the biggest mistakes with a pup,especially Deerhound types,it kills a couple of easy rabbits and so it will soon be ready to test more fully,then reality kicks in and a pup that would have been better left until it was both physically and mentally prepared,as been overfaced,overmatched and if not ruined will take longer to reach its potential.

At what age do you say I don't think this dog is what I want or up to its job 2, 3,4 year old?

 

Lets be honest there's better dogs on rabbits and hares even though deerhound lurchers aren't the worse at hare coursing.

Iv seen a big strong 28 inch 3 year old bitchs course and course fox when the course could have been long ended for fear of being bit, yes they ship punishment that way but they miss a lot of game over a season running in such a carefull manor.

There's some well meaning genuine people trying to keep this cross going but I wonder how many are tested in the field fully compared to other crosses and are a lot kept more as pets shower and races rather than earning there place as workers.

If a car sales men said you have to run this car in at 30 mph for the first ,000 miles it's life expectancy is 110,000 and I can't guarantee the engine will be any good when you finally open it up once it's a middle age vehicle!

 

I think you'd look at another brand of car?

I have a limited experience of the x having owned 2 myself I like them as a dog there gentle and no bother to kennel at all but I invested a lot of time (2 years) money effort and food only to find they couldn't step up from rabbits, I even had a 3 year old Platts bitch up and going on more testing quarrie throw the towel in on her second run still as fresh as a daisy.

 

I'm afraid the excuses have to run out at some time, but dogs aren't science experiments and there are a lot of variables so I'm sure some are fair dogs in a field.

In no way do I want to put any one off buying a deerhound cross but these are questions and observations from my own experience with the x. A.t.b with your choice of dogs.

 

I think you make some interesting points there mate, the dh cross not really liking the sharp end of stuff seems to come up too often for it to be just down to the odd crap on knocking about.

I am not sure if its the way they are bred now adays that is more to blame though. The majority of the dh crosses seem to come from one or two people who cant be showing them as much as would be needed to increase their abilities over a couple of generations.

 

In terms of them maturing late. I have one here who is now about 16months. Up until about 10 months you couldnt do anything with him training wise and I mean he was as thick as fook and a total wussie. Also didtn have any of the normal things you would expect from a lurcher, had no desire to chase anything and had me totally convinced that he was going to be utterly shite! Still shitting all over the place, the list goes on...

 

At about 10 months he started wanting to chase stuff a bit so i gave him the odd squatter which he couldnt have been further from catching. By about 12 months he had just clicked and has done really well on what you would expect a dog of that breeding to do. He still has a lot of maturing to do but I cant imagine him having any problem with anything that this country has to offer by the age of two.

[baldockbanks courser 598]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

This is where people make the biggest mistakes with a pup,especially Deerhound types,it kills a couple of easy rabbits and so it will soon be ready to test more fully,then reality kicks in and a pup that would have been better left until it was both physically and mentally prepared,as been overfaced,overmatched and if not ruined will take longer to reach its potential.

At what age do you say I don't think this dog is what I want or up to its job 2, 3,4 year old?

 

Lets be honest there's better dogs on rabbits and hares even though deerhound lurchers aren't the worse at hare coursing.

Iv seen a big strong 28 inch 3 year old bitchs course and course fox when the course could have been long ended for fear of being bit, yes they ship punishment that way but they miss a lot of game over a season running in such a carefull manor.

There's some well meaning genuine people trying to keep this cross going but I wonder how many are tested in the field fully compared to other crosses and are a lot kept more as pets shower and races rather than earning there place as workers.

If a car sales men said you have to run this car in at 30 mph for the first ,000 miles it's life expectancy is 110,000 and I can't guarantee the engine will be any good when you finally open it up once it's a middle age vehicle!

 

I think you'd look at another brand of car?

I have a limited experience of the x having owned 2 myself I like them as a dog there gentle and no bother to kennel at all but I invested a lot of time (2 years) money effort and food only to find they couldn't step up from rabbits, I even had a 3 year old Platts bitch up and going on more testing quarrie throw the towel in on her second run still as fresh as a daisy.

 

I'm afraid the excuses have to run out at some time, but dogs aren't science experiments and there are a lot of variables so I'm sure some are fair dogs in a field.

In no way do I want to put any one off buying a deerhound cross but these are questions and observations from my own experience with the x. A.t.b with your choice of dogs.

 

I think you make some interesting points there mate, the dh cross not really liking the sharp end of stuff seems to come up too often for it to be just down to the odd crap on knocking about.

I am not sure if its the way they are bred now adays that is more to blame though. The majority of the dh crosses seem to come from one or two people who cant be showing them as much as would be needed to increase their abilities over a couple of generations.

 

In terms of them maturing late. I have one here who is now about 16months. Up until about 10 months you couldnt do anything with him training wise and I mean he was as thick as fook and a total wussie. Also didtn have any of the normal things you would expect from a lurcher, had no desire to chase anything and had me totally convinced that he was going to be utterly shite! Still shitting all over the place, the list goes on...

 

At about 10 months he started wanting to chase stuff a bit so i gave him the odd squatter which he couldnt have been further from catching. By about 12 months he had just clicked and has done really well on what you would expect a dog of that breeding to do. He still has a lot of maturing to do but I cant imagine him having any problem with anything that this country has to offer by the age of two.

Is that a first xs?

[lapin2008 1,587]

My friend has a deer/grey pup only eight months old. It caught three rabbits on cut barley this morning. It has to be restrained big time when it sees cats or anything that moves.This one is definitely an early developer.

This is where people make the biggest mistakes with a pup,especially Deerhound types,it kills a couple of easy rabbits and so it will soon be ready to test more fully,then reality kicks in and a pup that would have been better left until it was both physically and mentally prepared,as been overfaced,overmatched and if not ruined will take longer to reach its potential.

At what age do you say I don't think this dog is what I want or up to its job 2, 3,4 year old?

 

Lets be honest there's better dogs on rabbits and hares even though deerhound lurchers aren't the worse at hare coursing.

Iv seen a big strong 28 inch 3 year old bitchs course and course fox when the course could have been long ended for fear of being bit, yes they ship punishment that way but they miss a lot of game over a season running in such a carefull manor.

There's some well meaning genuine people trying to keep this cross going but I wonder how many are tested in the field fully compared to other crosses and are a lot kept more as pets shower and races rather than earning there place as workers.

If a car sales men said you have to run this car in at 30 mph for the first ,000 miles it's life expectancy is 110,000 and I can't guarantee the engine will be any good when you finally open it up once it's a middle age vehicle!

 

I think you'd look at another brand of car?

I have a limited experience of the x having owned 2 myself I like them as a dog there gentle and no bother to kennel at all but I invested a lot of time (2 years) money effort and food only to find they couldn't step up from rabbits, I even had a 3 year old Platts bitch up and going on more testing quarrie throw the towel in on her second run still as fresh as a daisy.

 

I'm afraid the excuses have to run out at some time, but dogs aren't science experiments and there are a lot of variables so I'm sure some are fair dogs in a field.

In no way do I want to put any one off buying a deerhound cross but these are questions and observations from my own experience with the x. A.t.b with your choice of dogs.

 

I think you make some interesting points there mate, the dh cross not really liking the sharp end of stuff seems to come up too often for it to be just down to the odd crap on knocking about.

I am not sure if its the way they are bred now adays that is more to blame though. The majority of the dh crosses seem to come from one or two people who cant be showing them as much as would be needed to increase their abilities over a couple of generations.

 

In terms of them maturing late. I have one here who is now about 16months. Up until about 10 months you couldnt do anything with him training wise and I mean he was as thick as fook and a total wussie. Also didtn have any of the normal things you would expect from a lurcher, had no desire to chase anything and had me totally convinced that he was going to be utterly shite! Still shitting all over the place, the list goes on...

 

At about 10 months he started wanting to chase stuff a bit so i gave him the odd squatter which he couldnt have been further from catching. By about 12 months he had just clicked and has done really well on what you would expect a dog of that breeding to do. He still has a lot of maturing to do but I cant imagine him having any problem with anything that this country has to offer by the age of two.

Is that a first xs?

No he is 1/4 dh